Carter Smiled
by noenigma
Summary: SG-1 is captured and must escape and find a way home. My first SG-1 story-like all of them it was originally posted using the penname of Offworlder. Trying to get them all reposted in one spot-sorry, it may take awhile.
1. Chapter 1

_This is an oldie…both because it was the first of my SG-1 stories and because it was set way back when Carter was still a captain. I've broken it into chapters and given it a quick look-over, but otherwise left it pretty much as I wrote it—which looks to be sometime in 2005!_

 _Disclaimer: Purely for fan purposes; no copyright infringement intended._

Carter Smiled

Carter smiled as she maneuvered the MALP up the Gate ramp. Ahead of her, Colonel O'Neill had just stepped through the Gate whistling. She could imagine his off-tune song picking up on p8F-365 right where it had cut off here on Earth. The whistling was a good thing. It meant that her CO, who tended to act as though 7-day scientific survey missions were the bane of his existence, was reconciled to this one. Maybe even looking forward to it after their last several death-defying missions. She knew she was. But then spending 7 days under an alien sky studying things never before studied by anyone on Earth was something she always looked forward to, even when the Colonel didn't whistle going through the Gate, but especially when he did. Things were so much simpler if the Colonel was happy, she thought as she followed the MALP through the Gate.

O'Neill's whistle greeted her on the other side. She could see Daniel and Teal'c already headed off in the direction of their proposed base site. "Couldn't wait to get started," O'Neill nodded after them in explanation. "I thought I'd hang around and see if I could walk you home." Carter knew behind the easy banter the Colonel wasn't laughing. He took the safety of his team very seriously. There was no way he would have left her to get to camp alone, even though you just couldn't get lower than the threat assessment of p8F-365.

"That would be nice, Sir," she said with a grin.

He motioned her forward. "After you, Captain."

The day couldn't have been better. The Colonel was in a good mood. All sorts of new and exciting discoveries awaited them. Fall was just coming to p8F-365 and the weather was perfect-

"Fishing weather," O'Neill announced as though finishing her thought

"Did you bring your gear, Sir?" she asked him, trying not to sound too hopeful. If he had, there was a good chance the rest of them could get some work done without having to take turns babysitting in order to keep him from hanging over their backs asking distracting questions and messing with their sensitive equipment.

"You bet. Don't worry, Carter. I'll be a good boy and stay out of your hair," he answered. She cringed. Well, he wasn't stupid, and she was almost certain he had to really work at it to be as annoying as he often proved to be when he considered a mission boring. She suspected it was his way of keeping them on their toes. He was giving her accusing glances, and she figured she might as well fess up.

"Sorry, Sir. You read my mind...think we've been together too long?" It was just something to say, but when he didn't answer right away she knew she had done it again. His playful attitude was gone, replaced by a quiet intensity that hardened his features and always left her feeling guilty and confused.

"Not long enough, Carter. Not nearly long enough," he finally commented as he pulled ahead of her. She shook her head. Honestly why did the man have to be so difficult? What had set him off now? Did he think she wanted off SG-1? She would rather cut her leg off than give up her place under his command, and he had to know that. Had he just gotten tired of walking at the MALP's slow pace and wanted an excuse to speed up for a while? Or was it something more? She bit her lip. The something more that most of the time she convinced herself was just in her mind and other times was so tangible she imagined she could see it filling the room around them.

Please not that. One day, when she was already fuming over something he had done or said, she thought she would just burst out with it. "Do you have inappropriate feelings for me, Sir?" and then it would be out between them...or not. The colonel had a knack for avoiding answering uncomfortable questions. But, what if he didn't? What if he said yes? Or what if he turned it back on her? What could she answer when she really didn't know herself? She seemed to ask herself that question more than once every time they went through that Gate together, and only when he was at his most infuriating was she ever sure of her answer. Lately though, even then, she was still left confused about how she felt about him. Maybe they really had been together too long.

Right before they drew in to base camp, he let her catch up with him. "You're in charge of setting up camp, Captain. However it's going to work best for what you need to do. It's your show."

"Thank you, Sir." A nod and he was off. Not a word about what had went on back there so she was left to wonder if anything had gone on back there at all. By the time camp was set up, he was itching to get to the fishing, and she was itching to get to her samples. He was whistling again when he headed off to the river running just northwest of the camp. She knew he would keep the camp well within view and check in via radio throughout the day, but they were free to get to work. Her good humor returned, and she shook off her frustration with him. "It's all in your mind, Carter," she assured herself as she got started.

The next day and a half was one of the most relaxing times the team had ever spent together. The work went well, the results were promising, and the Colonel kept them supplied with more fish than she cared to eat. It was late afternoon on the second day when she realized he hadn't been whistling when he had sauntered off for an afternoon walk, and he had checked in by radio twice as often as the day before. It worried her and not just because she was afraid he was already getting bored and would soon be acting like a three year old on a long road trip. She trusted his instincts, and something was definitely setting off his alarms. She scoured the landscape. Everything seemed just as safe and secure as it had when they'd first arrived. She glanced at Teal'c. He met her eye and gave a slight shrug. "I do not know, Captain Carter. I have not seen anything untoward."

At which, Daniel piped in, "Me either, but something's sure bothering him." Ok. So they could all read her mind. Maybe they had all been together too long.

The Colonel joked, fished, and took "walks" around the camp through another day, his eyes constantly wary and watching. They did what work they could while watching him grow more and more agitated. It came more as a relief than a surprise that evening when he announced in his I-am-the-Colonel-and-I-don't-want-to-hear-it voice that they were packing up and getting out of there in the morning. Even Daniel didn't bother to put up a fight.


	2. Chapter 2

It was her fault they weren't safely through the Gate when trouble came. She had just had to finish one last analysis...half an hour tops and they could go. The Colonel hadn't been happy about it, but he was calling the mission four days early, and she figured he could live with it this time. It was looking like she had figured wrong.

She bit back tears of guilt as she thought about it. They'd only been fifteen minutes from the Gate when the attack came. If she hadn't held out for that last thirty minutes they'd have been safely through. Instead they were out in the open, sitting ducks to an enemy they had yet to see and against whom they'd had no way to defend themselves. One minute they were marching along as fast as the MALP could move; the next some sort of energy weapon had struck them from out of nowhere. Their weapons, which they'd had at the ready, were useless...there was nothing to shoot. The energy weapon hit them again, and she'd known nothing further until she had come to in what was undeniably a prison cell.

Teal'c was awake before her. He shook his head to her questioning look. He had found nothing that could be used to their advantage. Daniel groaned his way back into the world of the waking a few minutes later. There had been little to say. She knew it wouldn't be long until the Colonel was awake and tearing into her for endangering the team with her lack of judgment. At first, she hoped he'd take his time coming to, but after a while she began to worry and wish he'd wake up. They had been stripped of their watches along with their field jackets, weapons, watches, and GDOs. In fact, pretty much everything except their pants, t-shirts, socks, boots, and underwear, so she couldn't know how long he'd been out, but it felt too long to her. The Colonel was always the first up when they camped, and it seemed he was always already awake when she woke in circumstances similar to this one. She let out a slow sigh. There'd been more situations similar to this one than she wanted to think about. She shook her head and discovered the Colonel awake and looking at her.

"You all right, Carter?"

"Yes, Sir." She knew the tirade was about to start but found herself too delighted seeing him awake and alert to really mind. Besides, she deserved it. But, that being the case, she shouldn't have been surprised when she didn't get it. He had a habit of taking his frustrations out on his teammates when they had done nothing to warrant his anger, which, she thought, he occasionally tried to make up for by not yelling at them when they did deserve it. Apparently, this was one of those times.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I shouldn't-"

"Forget it, Carter. They were just biding their time. We wouldn't have gotten any closer to the Gate if we left the minute I knew something was up. Your thirty minutes didn't matter a twit."

"How did you know, O'Neill? I saw and noticed nothing." Teal'c cut into their conversation.

"I didn't either, Teal'c. I just knew we were being watched. Gave me the willies," he shuddered melodramatically. That was it for the post-capture review. Time to assess their situation and consider options. They were together in a 10 x 8 foot cell. If there had been bunks, there would have been barely enough room to squeeze between them. But there were no bunks, no bedding, no sink, no toilet, no toilet paper, no water or food, and no discernable door. There was a sealed bucket that she'd avoid using as long as humanly possible. And, an awkward, small window through which, if she lay just right, she could see a night sky that could not possibly be visible on p8F-365. That didn't sit well with the Colonel.

"You sure? Maybe we're on the other side of the planet?"

"Trust me, Colonel. I am an astrophysicist..."

"So, no forthcoming rescue parties when we don't show up as scheduled in a few days?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir." He scowled at her. That's when he'd started pacing. He was still pacing. Carter estimated he had been pacing for close to two days already, and if he stalked past her one more time, she was very likely to stick her foot out and trip him. Daniel had declared the far end of the room off limits to the Colonel's prowling by stretching out across it and dozing off for the past several hours. Teal'c had slowly been moving himself further into the room encroaching more and more into the Colonel's already limited pathway. Carter wasn't sure what he intended to do, but it was driving O'Neill further into her end of the room. As she already shared it with the bucket, she thought her end was small enough. It was in times like these she knew for a fact she did not have inappropriate feelings for the man.

"Colonel! Please sit down!" she hollered at him before she was forced to kill him. He threw himself down against the wall with a loud "Hmph!" She ignored him. He "Hmph"ed again. She giggled.

"Glad you stopped me, Captain. I was even driving myself crazy." Before she could open her mouth, he cut her off. "Don't tell me I was already there, Carter. Don't do it." She laughed. Ok, so approximately two days trapped in a shoebox without food or water, and he could still make her laugh. That had to mean something. She could have a problem.

He stretched his long body out and pulled his cap down over his eyes. Naptime. Except, of course, he wasn't really sleeping, and she knew it. He was in there wildly running through ideas to get them out of this mess. They'd probably exhausted all of them by this point, but she found herself doing the same thing. At the beginning of their ordeal, she had dreaded the arrival of their captors and the questioning and ill-treatment which was bound to come with them. But, now she was beginning to fear they'd been left in this box to either die a slow, agonizing death from dehydration and starvation or a quick, violent one when the colonel's pacing drove them into a mad frenzy and they fell on each other's throats.

"Rest, Carter," O'Neill ordered from beneath his cap. At least, he hadn't read her mind this time she thought as she dutifully stretched out on the hard floor and closed her eyes. That's when the floor dropped out from beneath them. She wildly flung her arms out and made contact with the Colonel as they landed with a bang.

"Whoa!" O'Neill said.

Blinking sleep from his eyes, Daniel said, "What was that?"

Teal'c answered him, "We were just transferred to another room."

"I don't think it's a room, Teal'c. More like a freight car...we're moving," she said. There was a rumble, a series of bumps, and then the unmistakable, steady rocking and motor reverberations of a large, slow vehicle bouncing along.

"So what have we got, kids?" O'Neill began to survey their new surroundings. They'd lost room as the car was a few feet narrower than their cell had been, but they'd gained a bowl of water, 4 packs of what proved to be stale, tasteless rations, and a fresh bucket along with their old one. Carter felt better than she had for quite some time...they hadn't been left to die after all.

Hours later, she changed her mind and decided death sounded pretty good. They'd been careful in the amount of food and water they'd allowed themselves, but the constant jolting of the vehicle and the oppressive heat had even 'Iron Stomach' O'Neill doubled over the bucket at one point. Only Teal'c had managed to avoid that unpleasant experience. At least the Colonel wasn't pacing.

When the vehicle came to a stop they looked at each other with dazed eyes. Early on over the mind-numbing roar of the engine, they had formulated a plan for when this time came. With a little luck, the transfer off the truck might be their first chance at escape. With stiffened muscles, they prepared themselves as best they could. But, it was hours before anything did happen, and even then there wasn't anything they could do.

When the freight car was finally opened and they cautiously moved out the door and down the ramp, they found themselves completely surrounded by heavily armed hostiles. Unlike most of the aliens SG-1 had met through the years, these aliens were not humanoid. They looked more like the Re'tu than anything else they had ever come across. But these aliens were definitely not in another phase. They reached and grabbed them off the ramp with claw-like appendages lined with sharp spikes that dug through their clothes and tore into their skin. There wasn't time to even assess where they were before they were being pushed and prodded towards an activated StarGate.

Every trip through a StarGate took them further and further from any hope of rescue, but it was obvious that there was no use in fighting. Only O'Neill, who never seemed to recognize a no-win situation, put up a struggle. A blow to his face and one to his back threw him down to the ground. Carter, straining to see what was happening, caught a glimpse of him crawling to his knees before she was pushed through the Gate. More hostiles greeted them on the other side, roughly pulling them away from the portal. She tried to hang back, hoping to see her CO come through. Surely even if he were still capable of putting up a fight, he would quit when he realized they had gone through the Gate without him. But she was thrust into a small, squat building without seeing him. Behind her, she heard a loud thump and looked around to find they were in a cell identical to their previous one. Any sign of a door was gone.

Teal'c and Daniel looked behind her expectantly. "O'Neill?" Teal'c questioned. But, she could only shrug.

"He's got to be coming, right, Sam?" Daniel asked hopefully. There was no answer. It was beyond hope that he might actually have escaped their captors and all too possible he had provoked them into killing him. She turned from her teammates and began searching for the door. Even knowing it was there, she could not locate it. She kicked the wall and then leaned her head against it. She could sense Teal'c and Daniel in the room behind her. She knew they were trying to decide whether they should leave her alone or if one of them should come and offer her what comfort they could. She took a deep breath and faced them. With the Colonel gone it was her place to lead them, and she wouldn't be able to do that if they had to coddle her.

"Everyone ok?" They all had cuts and abrasions from the aliens' rough spikes, but were otherwise all right. A quick survey found no supplies of any type. The small portions of dry stale rations from the truck they'd stuck in their pockets left them only marginally better off than they'd been before their move.

"What can they possibly want from us?" Carter asked.

"Do you think it matters?" Daniel replied.

"I don't know. Maybe. If we knew what they wanted, we might be able to guess what they'd do next and work out a plan."

Teal'c shocked them both by saying, "Well, it is apparent they do not intend to feed on us."

"Ugh! Why would you say that, Teal'c?" Daniel hollered at him.

"It seems likely that if their intent was to eat us, they would insure we were well fed," Teal'c answered unperturbed by Daniel's outburst.

"Well, there is that," Carter answered. Suddenly their room was jarred, and the entire wall behind her opened up so quickly she wasn't certain if it had moved to the side or up. There wasn't time to give it much thought. A large alien dragged O'Neill into the room and tossed him against the far wall with a sickening thud. Carter barely had time to take in his torn, bloody clothing and bloodied face before she felt the alien grab her right shoulder and begin to drag her from the room. It threw her to the ground outside the building. She quickly turned to face it looming over her.

"What do you want?" she cried out, but it gave no answer besides raising an armored appendage as though to give her a blow across the face. A sudden, low growl that reverberated through the air stopped it. Carter turned to see another alien advancing towards her. It pushed the first one away and came to a stop in front of her. It snarled at her, and a split second later she heard a tinny echo that she realized only too late was some sort of mechanical translator ordering her to get up. By then she'd been roughly hauled to her feet.

Another snarl and with difficulty she made out the translated "Come!" and found herself being herded into another building. A stone table stood in the middle of the room. The alien waved a claw in its direction. It reminded her of a medical exam table, and she was filled with a sudden fear of being dissected alive. Too many late night horror shows with the guys, she thought closing her eyes and refusing to move. Her cooperation was apparently only optional because the alien simply flopped her up and onto it. It held her down with a pair of its appendages while securing her to the table with some sort of strap.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked but again received no answer. The alien bent over her with a piece of equipment not unlike an IV needle, tubing, and bag. Within a few seconds she felt the prick of the needle and her arm burned with the sting of whatever was dripping into it. A wave of nausea washed over her, and she desperately swallowed it down, afraid of choking on her vomit. It was followed with a wave of dizziness; then pain came crashing down on her. It permeated every centimeter of her body as though fire had erupted in each individual cell and was burning through her. For the briefest moment, she struggled to cling to consciousness afraid of what the alien might do if she passed out. But her fight couldn't last against the pain, and she slipped away into nothingness.

She looked into the anxious faces of her teammates and for a minute wasn't sure who she was or who they were. She knew something awful had happened but what it was evaded her, swallowed up by the dull pain stabbing at her when she tried to move. She blinked in confusion at the men huddled over her.

Then the colonel said, "Carter?" Yes, she was Carter...Samantha Carter, USAF. And these men were her friends. She opened her mouth to answer the colonel and instead found herself crying. He gathered her into his arms and held her while she wept uncontrollably against his shoulder. He asked her what had been done to her, but when it became apparent she couldn't find the words or strength to answer, he gave up. Instead he told her, "It's over now. You're safe."

Daniel patted her back and said, "We're here, Sam...you're with us."

.


	3. Chapter 3

Their words and touch had calmed her, but they had only been empty words and their touch could not protect her from her torturer. She had no idea how many times she'd been dragged from the room and strapped to that table in the days following. She didn't know if it was always the same alien who strapped her to the table or not. She didn't know what it/they wanted from her or what she could do to stop the pain. She was dimly aware that it wasn't actually the same table in the same room because they had been thrust through an activated StarGate more than once since this whole nightmare had started. But it was always the same routine: the rough handling, the strap, the needle, the sting followed by the nausea and dizziness, and then the pain, and then waking up confused and hurting to the increasingly concerned and battered faces of her teammates.

She was never able to bring herself to tell them what happened to her in that room. One or another of them was frequently taken from the others, but as far as she could tell they were just roughed up. When they were tossed back into the room it was obvious they'd been beaten, but except for slight, red markings where the strap held her, she had no physical signs of abuse. They were conscious and all too aware of what sort of treatment they'd been given where she had no idea what was done to her after the pain hit. They were defiant; the colonel yelled abuses at their captors whenever one entered the room. She knew it was his rather ineffective way of keeping the bad guys away from his team by trying to draw all the punishment on himself.

She, on the other hand, trembled at even the thought of doing anything to bring their captors' wrath down on her. She watched the colonel draw the aliens' anger and, though she thought him foolhardy, she was ashamed of her own fear. She felt the fight had been drained out of her and exposed her for the weak, cowering creature she really was.

When the aliens came for her, the guys would try to stop them though they were always just batted or kicked away for their troubles. Later, when she had fought her way back through the confusion and lay hurting in their cell, she would see again her friends being battered in a futile attempt to prevent what they could not stop. She could hear their desperate voices calling out to their captors.

"Why are you doing this? What are you doing to her?"

"Stop this! Just leave her alone, why don't you!"

"Captain Carter will tell you nothing."

She was afraid one of them would be killed trying to protect her and knew she wasn't worthy of their sacrifice. She begged them to not put themselves in danger on her account, but, of course, they continued.

"Carter, we're not just going to sit here and let them take you without a fight," O'Neill told her. She felt even worse. That was exactly what she did.

Only once had she found the courage to even question her tormenter, "Why, why are you doing this to me?" She hadn't expected to be given an answer, but the emotionless, mechanical voice of the translator had answered and destroyed what little faith she'd managed to pull together about her ability to put up a fight.

"We observed you before we took you. We watched and we saw. Your people are strong, but they have a weakness that will break them...you." The words had cut into her soul as much as the pain. O'Neill and Teal'c would die before they gave their torturer any pleasure in knowing he was getting to them. And Daniel, though he didn't have the military training or the rough soldier mentality, was made of stone deep inside. He, too, would die before breaking. They were all still fighting and defying their captors while she meekly let them drag her wherever they wanted. She believed the alien's words...she was the one who would break. She was afraid that if she knew what her tormentors wanted of her, she'd gladly give it if only they'd leave her alone.

When she blinked her way back into an awareness of who she was, that knowledge was her first waking thought. It would wash over her as relentlessly as the aching pain in her body, and the shame of it weighed her down. She found herself pulling ever more away from the other members of SG-1. She didn't want to look into their eyes and see their pity or their condemnation.

The knowledge of her own frailty was enough; the pain was overkill. It never left her anymore. It consumed her and exhausted her leaving her without the strength to eat the meager rations they were occasionally thrown or drink the scummy water that they were infrequently allotted. Her teammates took it upon themselves to make sure she choked down some of both.

She could see they weren't faring all that well themselves. Their bruised and battered faces grew ever gaunter, and they staggered about the cell with barely the strength to keep upright. Even Teal'c. Where at first they'd spent a lot of time throwing out possible theories of what their captors intended to do to them, they now had little to say. She thought their captors where slowly draining the life out of them all. Hers was going fast. It was harder and harder to respond when the others spoke to her, or to swallow when they pressed the ladle to her mouth or fed her small bits of their dry rations.

One day she didn't even bother to try. That was the day she knew the fight hadn't gone out of the colonel. "You will drink this, Captain! That's an order!" he had barked at her. "Come on, Carter! We're not going to let you just slip away like this. Every day you're going further and further away! We need you here. We're going to beat them...all of us. We're going to get out of here!"

She blinked at him through the pain. Didn't he know she was the weak link, the breaking point? She'd do them all a favor if she could just fade away. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she shook her head no.

"What do you mean no, Captain?" he held her eyes with the depth of his determination. He had such a strong will there had been times she truly believed SG-1 had survived for no other reason than because he refused to let them die. She didn't think his determination was enough this time.

"Sir-" it had been so long since she had talked, her voice was weak and hoarse. She shook her head. It took too much effort to fight through the pain to explain herself to him, and what was the use anyway?

"Talk to me! Sir, what?" he shook her gently when she closed her eyes instead of answering. "Carter." Almost a whisper and strained as though he was strangling. She forced her eyes back open. "Don't leave," he told her. "You've got to hold on...whatever they're doing to you, you've got to keep fighting. You're slipping away, and if you go, we all go."

"That's what it told me, Sir. I am the weak point they will use to break all of you."

"What? One of them told you that?"

"I'm sorry." She had thought she was too spent to cry, but she had been wrong.

"Don't tell me you believed that no-good-excuse for a lobster, Carter!" She couldn't meet his gaze. "You're not going to break, Captain," he assured her. Then he went on in a quiet, strained voice, "I'm afraid I'm going to break watching you die in slow motion. We all are...can't you see what it's doing to all of us? Please, I need you to keep going so I can-so all of us can. Come on, Carter, drink some water and eat something. Fight another day."

She wanted to believe he was right when he said she really wasn't weak. She wanted to believe she wouldn't betray his trust in her. But, she didn't want to believe their ability to keep fighting depended on her because she felt within herself her battle was already lost. She needed to believe they'd fight on after her and emerge victorious in the end.

She shook her head. "I don't know how to keep going, Sir."

"Find a way, Captain. That's an order." She wanted to obey him, to prove him right about her; but the pain weighing so heavily on her kept her from it. She curled into a small ball beside him without having taken any of the food or water he'd ordered her to take.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she tried to whisper but wasn't sure if it actually made it out of her mouth. He carefully lay down next to her and wrapped himself around her. She was cold all the time now even though the guys were sweating in the stale heat of their cell. They had banded together to do what they could against the cold. Whenever she was in the cell, one or another of them had taken to drawing her next to them and letting their warmth reach her through the pain. As the colonel's comforting warmth seeped into her aching bones, he started to speak again. "We're going to have to make a break for it...I know it doesn't look good, that's why we've waited, but none of us our getting any stronger here. I'm going to give the order. I only need you to do two things...lie low-don't get in the way-and hold on. Don't die before we can get you out of here." She thought he was asking her the impossible.

Lying beside him like this, she remembered their time in Antarctica when it had been her trying to warm him. He had promised her they'd make it out then, too. And he had been right though she hadn't believed him then. Any more than she believed him now. There was no getting out. They were locked in a one-room building in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a large number of larger and stronger hostiles. Their adversaries were armed with both the energy weapon that they knew firsthand to be very effective and projectile weapons that looked much like their own guns. It would be suicide to attempt an escape. And it would be futile. They didn't even have a clue where the door to their cell was; let alone how to open it. She wanted to tell him to not do it-not for her. But, she was drowning in the pain and couldn't rise above it.


	4. Chapter 4

O'Neill waited, hoping for some response from her promising she would hold on until he could somehow save her. But, she lay in his arms totally still and quiet. His gut clenched with the knowledge that time was running out. It seemed like she was shrinking away right before his eyes. Every time she came back from the outside, she'd been ever more withdrawn from them. At first he'd thought it was only from him...that she was still blaming herself for their capture and couldn't face him or that she held him responsible for not getting them out of this mess someway or another. He wished that's all it had been. Instead, he'd come to recognize it was pain that was walling her off, not only from him but also from all of them. He could have borne her anger; with the other's help he could have talked her out of her misplaced guilt. But, he didn't stand a chance against her pain.

Still, escape had looked so futile, so obviously hopeless, that he had held on, waiting and hoping for a break that would give them a fighting chance. He couldn't wait any longer...he'd rather die in the attempt then see this nightmare through to its inevitable end. He lifted his head and looked across the room into the worried eyes of Daniel Jackson. "We've got to get out of here," he said.

"How, Jack?" Daniel asked wearily.

"How's the least of our worries...when's the biggie. And that's right here, right now. Before they come back for her again 'cause I'm telling you, Daniel, she won't survive another trip out there." Daniel opened his mouth as though to speak and then grimly closed it.

"It's about time they brought Teal'c back. When they do whatever they do with that door or wall or whatever we've got to be ready. Near as I can figure the whole side goes up...we need to be right there so the second it moves we do too."

"And then?" Daniel prompted.

O'Neill shrugged. "Hey, why complicate my plan? It is elegant in its simplicity."

"Yeah," Daniel said, obviously unimpressed with the plan. O'Neill agreed with him, but he had nothing else to offer.

"Listen, Daniel, when the door opens we shoot out and run like our lives depend on it. If we're fast enough, we'll get past the couple bringing Teal'c back. If I know Teal'c, he'll use our distraction to take out those two. In the meantime, plow into one of those goons that are always lurking in the background. The ones with the big guns. Hit one hard and fast and get any ordinance you can. Then do as much damage as you can. I'll do the same. We'll grab Carter and make a run for the Gate."

"Jack, these guys are twice our size...how are we going to take their weapons?"

O'Neill shrugged again, "Surprise?"

"Sure, Jack."

"Got any better ideas? Do you really want to sit here and wait for them to finish off Carter and start on one of the rest of us?" He knew he was taking his helpless frustrations out on Daniel. The plan stunk, and the kid had every right to question its effectiveness. "Listen, if you want, get back there with Carter. You're right, it's a lousy plan, but I can't-I won't lie here and watch her die!"

The fight seemed to have gone out of Daniel. "I know, Jack. I'll take the left," he said moving into position against the wall/door.

O'Neill gently roused Carter. "We need you out of harm's way, Captain. Move to the back." Watching her make the attempt, he couldn't believe she could ever think herself the weak link in SG-1. Her movements were painful and slow, she couldn't even eat or drink; yet she was struggling to do her part. Seeing her like this hurt him somewhere deep inside, and he could have kicked himself for asking it of her. "OK, Plan B, I'm going to move you back against the far wall..." He expected her to protest, but she allowed him to gather her in his arms and move her out of the way.

There'd been other times, other places where for one reason or another he had carried her running through a StarGate, and she'd always been a substantial weight in his arms. But this time, even in his weakened condition, she felt as light and as insubstantial as Charlie had that day he'd scooped him up and ran with him bleeding and dying in his arms. It wasn't an association he wanted to make. "Okay, you just stay down. We'll clear the way and come back for you," he told her. She was already gone wherever it was the pain drove her and didn't respond.

He hurried back to get in position. His timing was right on; he'd barely flown back to the wall/door before it opened. One second it was a wall, the next it was just open space. "Teal'c!" he yelled as he propelled himself out and away from it as quickly as he could. He knew the Jaffa would understand immediately and only hoped he hadn't been kicked around so badly he couldn't react just as quickly.

He threw himself toward one of the twelve or so hostiles who were always lurking with weapons ready. He had a vague hope that with the right amount of divine intervention, desperation, and surprise he might actually be able to grab a weapon before being brought down. It might just work. Lately, he had given up showing his defiance and purposely overdone the cowed prisoner act, and, if they had bought it, he might reach one and grab a weapon before they had time to react. He wished he could see where Daniel and Teal'c were, but there wasn't time. He hit his target hard and fast and discovered to his relief that the alien couldn't stand against his charge...they both tumbled over, and amazingly he was the one who stood up with a weapon in his hand.

No time to determine if he knew how to fire the thing-he shot off several shots into the chest of an alien advancing on him and then another. They both went down and stayed down. More aliens were charging him, but the weapon was empty and useless in his hands. He grabbed up another from one of the fallen and began again. He heard Daniel cry out a word of warning, and then a vicious blow to his back sent him sprawling to the ground. He twisted as he fell and shot his attacker before it could do any more damage. Weapon fire was all around him, and he hoped it was coming from Teal'c and Daniel and that Carter was keeping her head down.

Carter. He needed to get back to that door before it locked shut and trapped her inside. He'd watched every move the aliens had ever made taking him back to their cell, and he'd never seen how they opened that door. Firing off the last rounds from his second weapon, he began to dodge back to the cell.

As he ran, he caught a glimpse of Daniel, taking cover behind the body of an enemy, dodging bullets and firing his own back. And then he saw Teal'c struggling against two of the aliens. He thought he saw the flash of a sword swiping at Teal'c as the Jaffa threw an alien off his back and tackled another to bring it down. Both aliens crashed to the ground, and O'Neill was relieved to see the Jaffa still standing his ground. Then he was through the open wall and to Carter.

Totally oblivious to the firefight going on just out the door, she lay where he had put her. "Time to go, Captain," he told her. He thought she was unconscious until he felt her put her arms around his neck and help him lift her. A soft cry escaped her lips, and then she went still and hung from his arms a dead weight. Only moments before she had felt almost weightless, but now his arms trembled with the effort to hold her. Everything that mattered in the universe was boiled down into her still body, and it was up to him to save it.

"Cover!" he shouted as he erupted from the protection of the cell and dashed as quickly as he could in the direction he guessed they'd find the StarGate. Weapon fire flashed out around them, but he ran on. He thought if he could just keep moving, they'd make it. "Head to the Gate!" he yelled over his shoulder.

This planet, like the others to which their captors had brought them, was hot desert sand with no cover, nowhere to regroup and hold off a hostile advancement. Where were the trees when he needed them? Behind him the weapon fire was becoming sporadic, but he could hear it nearing his position. He was losing steam and twice had stumbled and thought they'd both been going down. Please, let it be Teal'c and Daniel gaining on him.

It was. "O'Neill!" Teal'c called from behind his back. "Take the weapon and give me Captain Carter." Sure, Teal'c...let's pass the baton. Daniel did what he could to cover their sixes while the trade was clumsily made.

"Get to the Gate, Teal'c. Don't wait for us!" He didn't take the time to find out how many of the aliens were chasing them but started right after Teal'c. He knew immediately that something was wrong. Even burdened down with Carter, Teal'c should have pulled ahead of them by now, but he hadn't. O'Neill thought he must have been weaker than he had let on.

"How far is that Gate?" Daniel huffed beside him. "I'm out of bullets, Jack!"

O'Neill didn't waste his breath answering but just kept running. There!

"There it is!" he shouted and suddenly they were to the DHD. "Daniel dial us up!"

"Where?!"

"Come on, Daniel! Anywhere these guys aren't breathing down our necks!"

"Okay, p4D-569! There wasn't anyone on the planet, let alone guarding the Gate, and there are trees for shelter only a few yards back, remember?" O'Neill was too busy trying to catch his breath and watch Daniel's six to snarl an answer. Of course, he didn't remember. Every planet they visited was p something or another...they all sounded alike to him.

Five aliens were gaining on their position. His weapon fired only a couple more ineffective rounds before all his ammo was gone. Hurriedly, he and Daniel backed toward the Gate. When they heard it ka-whoosh behind them, they turned and made a desperate run for it. Any minute now, O'Neill thought the blast of that energy weapon would strike them down, but it was a barrage of bullets that sent them diving at high speed into the Gate.


	5. Chapter 5

O'Neill came to a full stop when his head impacted the stone steps at the Gate's base on the other side. A fraction of a second later he felt Teal'c ram into him. He heard the thud of what had to be Daniel Jackson hitting just above him. No one made a move to get away from the Gate, not a good sign. He knew he was in no condition to even crawl away at the moment, and hoped his teammates were in better shape than he was. He willed the Gate to close before they were followed through. And, for a change, things went his way. The event horizon disappeared without anything more than a last, lone bullet shooting out of it. It whizzed off past them harmlessly. He lowered his head onto the step and tried to gather enough breath to ask after his team.

"Everyone all right?" He eventually choked out. No one answered. He was pinned against Teal'c and began to struggle in an attempt get up. Without answering the Jaffa rolled slightly, giving O'Neill the chance to drag himself free. Dark, red blood covered his side where Teal'c had lain against him. O'Neill groaned. "Teal'c! Talk to me! How badly are you wounded?"

Teal'c's usually stoic face winced in pain, beads of sweat running down it. "Bad, O'Neill...leave me...get away from the Gate while you may." O'Neill inexpertly appraised the bleeding gash running from just under Teal'c's right arm, across and down his abdomen, and ending only after it slashed into his pouch.

"Junior?" O'Neill asked.

"Alive, but for how long?" Take the others and go!"

"You know I'm not leaving you, Teal'c. Just hold on until I can find out what's up with Daniel." Teal'c made no effort to get up and that worried O'Neill as much as the silence from Daniel. He really didn't want to look and find out he was the only one capable of getting the others away from the Gate and into the shelter of the trees away from whatever pursuers were bound to follow them through any minute now. He didn't feel so capable himself. From the numbness of his left shoulder and arm, he had a pretty good idea he'd taken a bullet. Ol' Doc Frasier was not going to be happy with the shape of his knee. Blood dripped down his forehead from some cut or scrape or maybe a bullet graze or, more probably, the wallop it had taken on the steps. And he couldn't quit shaking. With growing dread, he turned to look at Daniel.

The young archeologist, his lanky form twisted oddly, sprawled over the top steps. He was unconscious and didn't respond to O'Neill's frantic shake, but he did have a faint, rapidly beating pulse. Spinal cord injury, O'Neill thought. But there was no time to stabilize his back or minimize the damage. They had to get to safety before the aliens reopened the Gate. Urgently, he hooked Daniel with his right arm and pulled him gingerly down the stairs towards Carter. Daniel groaned in pain and tried to jerk away from him. "Hold on Daniel," he hissed through clenched teeth, "unless you can get down yourself." Daniel stopped struggling. Reaching the bottom step, he curtly said, "If you can get yourself to the trees go now. I'll be right behind you with Carter...we've got to go now!"

Carter had ended up curled on her side a few feet from the bottom step. She looked unharmed and peacefully asleep, her breathing slow and steady, but her pulse so weak he wasn't sure he really felt it. She didn't rouse while he painfully and oh so slowly dragged the pair of them towards the tree line. "I'm coming back, Teal'c, hold on," he called, but his own rasping breath was so loud, he couldn't hear if the Jaffa attempted a reply. In just a few steps, he overtook Daniel making his tortuously slow way towards safety by painfully pulling himself along. Only then, reeling from his own injuries and Carter's weight, did he realize his error in judgment...they didn't need to get to the tree line, they needed to get to the DHD and a planet whose address would be unknown to their pursuers. Cursing himself he began to stagger back, "Daniel... back to the Gate! We won't make it this way...we've got to get back to the Gate!" He could only hope Daniel heard and followed as best he could.

After a lifetime, he reached the DHD. He knew if he dropped Carter, he'd never have the strength to gather her back up again, so leaning with her against the pedestal, he hurriedly punched in 7 symbols. He had a small address collection of relatively safe planets to be used in emergencies such as this. With no GDO there was no going home, and without weapons there would be no fighting their way through enemy lines. They needed somewhere safe to lick their wounds, regroup, and find a way home. The goal was escape and survival, and he thanked heaven above when the Gate activated and opened to his coordinates. He stumbled up the stairs and as gently as possible dropped the unresponsive captain into the opening.

There was only a matter of seconds before the Gate would close unless something else was in transit once Carter made it to the other side, so he threw himself down the stairs to Teal'c. "Come on, Buddy! Help me here!" he cried but got no response. Pulling and heaving his friend's bulk towards the Gate, he somehow managed to get him half way into the opening. He decided that Teal'c was as good a doorstop as any and hoping time was traveling as slowly as he was, O'Neill left him there while he went back for Daniel.

Although he tried, Daniel wasn't much more help than the other two had been. Eventually, though, they made their way to the Gate before it automatically shutdown. With a desperate heave, O'Neill sent Teal'c and himself tumbling into it while Daniel painstakingly managed to propel himself in as well.

O'Neill lay incoherently on the other side until Daniel's cries brought him around. "Jack! Teal'c! I'm on top of Sam and I can't get off with you guys on me! Hurry, Guys! Move! I don't think she's breathing!" The meaning of his words slowly set in. None of them had been moving fast enough to clear the others when they exited the Gate. They had all ended up in a heap on the other side. And Carter, who he'd dumped in first, was at the bottom. Jack clutched Teal'c's shirt as hard as he could with his only working hand and desperately rolled them both off the crumpled bodies of their teammates. He felt Daniel shift beside him, and then they were both struggling to right themselves and attend to Carter.

Though she was still and pale as death there was no sign of any external damage. She actually looked better than any of them even with the red marks pressed into her face from being scrunched against the hard stone and their combined weight.

"I can't tell, Jack...is she breathing? Sam! Sam!"

"I don't know, Daniel. Shut up a minute, will you? Yes! There...she's breathing...and I think I've got a pulse...check Teal'c!" Weariness was washing over him in waves so strong even the urgency of the moment couldn't move him. He slumped over next to Carter.

When he came to the sun was low in the evening sky and night would soon be upon them...with no shelter, no supplies. He tried to remember which planet he had dialed, but his head was too foggy. When he struggled to sit up he was hit with all the symptoms of a concussion: nonstop headache, blurred vision, and a deep need to retch counteracted only by the knowledge of how much worse such a violent activity would make him feel. His right arm was no longer numb though he wished it were, and his right hand hung uselessly by his side, drying blood making his sleeve as thick and sticky as his side was with Teal'c's blood. He stayed still for a few minutes, waiting for the worst of it to pass and hoping his teammates could hold on until he could get to them.

He checked Carter first. The once strong and vibrant captain had disappeared into a fragile, shrunken shadow of her former self. She was deathly still but breathing. He had enough survival training to know that the cool, clammy feel of her skin indicated shock and that it could easily kill her. But, he had nothing to warm her with, nothing with which to prop up her lower body, nothing at all to treat her shock. He had only his determination to keep her alive...and a hollow feeling in his gut telling him that that wasn't going to be enough.

Pulling himself to a shaky stand, he managed somehow not to fall on his face. He looked over at his other two team members. Daniel apparently hadn't made it much farther than he had, and it didn't look like Teal'c had moved at all since he'd dumped them off of Carter. Both of them were breathing at least...ominous, ragged breathing, but he'd settle for that at the moment.

"Daniel! Daniel! Come on and help me out here! Daniel!"

A stifled groan let him know he'd been successful in rousing his teammate. "Teal'c and Carter aren't going to make it if we don't do something soon! Think! Can you remember any of the addresses other teams might be at?"

Daniel moaned. "I missed the meeting...studying that artifact...you were there."

"Of course, I was there, but I wasn't listening! What do you think we have Carter for? She'd know if she'd wake up." He vowed to not only start listening during all meetings but even take notes. And to mention to Hammond the need to designate a safe planet that a team losing their GDO's could Gate to and find needed supplies and wait for rescue. Before they could have Gated to the Alpha Site, but now it was equipped with its own iris. Even if their captors hadn't taken their GDO's, in the days or weeks since their capture their codes had surely been locked out. There was no going home that way.

And there would be no rescue. The SGC had no idea to which planet the hostiles on P-whatever had carted them when they had first been captured. And there had been other trips through the Gate after that, though he wasn't certain exactly how many as they hadn't been in the best of shape even then.

"I've taken a hit to my head, Daniel...I can't think clearly. We've got to keep going...where should it be? The Tokra didn't give us their new address yet and the last one is overrun by Gould. The last time we dialed them, the Nox weren't answering the phone..." he trailed off.

Daniel had pulled himself the rest of the way to Teal'c and began to make an attempt at stopping the slow but constant blood oozing from his side... without proper supplies, and maybe even with them, it was hopeless. He gave it up before he had even begun. He saw why Jack's voice sounded uncharacteristically defeated. "I don't know, Jack...what about the City of Light?"

"Ok...I'll get to the DHD, you tell me what to push." Daniel watched as Jack staggered down the steps and over to the DHD. The colonel didn't look in any better shape than the rest of them. The hostiles on P8F-365 had had their fun with each of them, and the escape attempt had done the rest. He didn't blame Jack for leading it though. He'd been no more willing than Jack to sit around and wait until Sam was past help even if the frequent torture sessions and lack of food and water weren't taking their toll on all of them as well.

"Ok...give it to me." He watched Jack reach out a shaky hand towards the DHD buttons and then stop.

"What is it, Jack?" he called. Hurry, he thought. He was feeling worse and didn't know how much longer he'd manage to stay awake.

"The thing's broken, Daniel. The red thingamabob is shattered."

"Try anyway, Jack...got to do something." But the attempt was useless... Jack slipped down the DHD to the ground. Daniel shouted his name, but there was no answer.

Daniel put his head on his useless knees. "Ok. Think," he told himself. "We are going to die here if you don't think." But as darkness crept over them, he felt himself drifting away again..."I'm sorry, guys...so sorry."

When he awoke, he discovered Teal'c was also awake and had managed to find the strength to move them both to Sam. He had sandwiched her nonresponsive body between them. When he saw Daniel awake, he said, "I am sorry I had to move you, Daniel Jackson, but I did not believe we would survive if we did not share body heat."

Shivering Daniel said, "I'm glad you did, Teal'c. But how is your wound?"

"Not well, however, I believe my symbiote has been able to begin repairs...I am much stronger than I was before and the bleeding has stopped."

"Good news, Teal'c."

"Indeed. I thought my symbiote would not survive and am pleased that I was wrong. But things do not look well for Captain Carter or yourself."

"No. I guess not."

"What of O'Neill?"

"Last I saw him, he collapsed by the DHD...we were going to try to get to the City of Light, but the DHD Control is shattered."

"He is injured as well?"

"Something's up with his shoulder...and his head was bleeding. He could barely walk to the DHD..."

"I see...it is not good that he is not with us, but I cannot make it to him."

"I'm sorry, Teal'c. Neither can I. Something's happened to my legs...I can barely move myself." He had done his best not to assume the worst, but fear clutched him and he was forced to wonder if he'd ever be able to use his legs again.

Teal'c must have heard the despair in his voice, "Then we must trust O'Neill to survive as he always does and regain what strength we can through the night."

"I wonder what planet this is and how long the night will be. There has to be some reason Jack brought us here."

"I am sure there is, Daniel Jackson, but for now we must rest."


	6. Chapter 6

Rain came before morning, taking with it any chance of rest. Daniel and Teal'c arched themselves over Carter as much as they were able and let the rain wash over their backs.

O'Neill woke to the rain's wet chill. His body ached with cold; his teeth chattered against purple lips. In the dark, he couldn't make out his people and fearing how much worse they'd look after hours of the night's low temperatures he decided to count that as a blessing. He curled his aching body as tightly as he could and tried not to think about Carter defenseless and alone against the cold.

Hadn't it been enough their captors had singled her out to bear the brunt of their attentions, bringing her back subdued, frightened, and uncommunicative? At the time, he'd thought the best they could do for her was to keep up her strength: hand feeding her small pieces of their meager rations, giving her sips of their precious water allotment, and enveloping her in their arms to give her what warmth they could. But, it hadn't been enough. He should have come up with a plan and gotten her out of there before things had gotten so bad. He was afraid he had delayed too long. And planned too poorly. His plan had proven to be disastrous for all of them. He should have done better by them.

Then that stupid mistake wasting precious time and energy heading for the tree line when they should have been Gating further away from their pursuers... though a lot of good that had done them. He hunched in the cold rain and wished the morning away. He didn't want to see the cold, dead bodies of those under his command in its light. But morning came anyway.

When he managed to stagger over to his teammates, his relief at finding them all still alive was so great he wept. He blamed it on the head injury. The welcome fact that his teammates were all still breathing didn't blind him to the fact that they didn't look so hot. Carter's pallor had given way to purple, and she shook from the cold. He could see they had somehow shielded her from the worst of the rain. She was the only one not soaked clear through. Daniel looked as bad as he'd ever seen him. O'Neill, remembering his painfully crippled movements of the evening, didn't think he'd look better anytime soon. Teal'c's wound, however, looked better than it had before, and he began to hope that maybe Junior was going to make it after all.

O'Neill had spent a good part of the predawn hours trying to prioritize their needs. If they couldn't leave the planet, they needed shelter and warmth, food and water, a way to tend their wounds, and a reason to stay alive. Right now, they didn't have squat. Their captors had taken everything but the clothes they wore and for some reason Daniel's glasses which were lying bent and somewhat the worse for wear beside him. Wincing, he bent over and picked them up. They'd come in handy if he could scrounge up some wood dry enough to kindle.

He would have much rather collapsed beside the others, but instead he made the effort to scope out their surroundings. He was pleased to discover rainwater pooled in the pockmarked tops of several large rocks near the Gate. He scavenged the center of the broken, red thingamabob from the DHD to make a passable bowl and splashed what water he could into it so he could carry it to his injured teammates. He also found scads of wriggling worms driven from the waterlogged ground. He'd lived off of worse.

By the time, the others began to awaken; he had a small smoky fire almost coaxed to life and a large ball of writhing worms waiting for their breakfast. He didn't take it as a good sign that Daniel was hungry enough to help himself to a handful before he had to be ordered too.

"I am pleased to see you survived the night, O'Neill." Teal'c told him.

O'Neill flippantly answered, "As am I, as am I." He was surprised to find it was true. With food and water and finding his people still alive, he felt much more hopeful than he had just a short while before. They argued over the best way to try to get food and water into Carter, but in the end none of their methods did more than dribble a tiny amount of water between her still chattering teeth and down her chin. As gently as their stiff, pained movements would allow they moved her closer to the fire. Daniel struggled out of his t-shirt and after letting it dry by the fire they wrapped it around her shoulders. Dried blood had so encrusted Jack and Teal'c's shirts that even with the soaking they'd had from the rain they were too difficult for them to remove, or they would have done the same.

Daniel tried to get a look at Jack's shoulder, but Jack would have nothing to do with it. "Leave it alone, Daniel! More than likely the bullet went on through, but if it didn't what are you going to do about it? Dig it out with a stick? I don't think so!"

A few hours into the day, Teal'c felt strong enough to try standing with O'Neill's help. They both ended up back on the ground. "You know, Teal'c...this is getting old," O'Neill said disentangling himself from his friend once again. "Why don't you Kelnareem awhile? Then we'll try it again."

O'Neill and Daniel fitfully dozed away the rest of the morning. By noon, O'Neill was up and, after eating another handful of squirming protein, he dribbled more water down Carter's chin. Then he nudged Daniel to tell him he was off on recon seeking somewhere they could shelter from the sun and any more rain.

When he limped his way back to the Gate later, he found Teal'c and Daniel both awake. Teal'c had managed to stand and was examining the DHD. O'Neill watched him thinking that it was Carter they needed for that. The sun was beating down burning Daniel's exposed chest and back, but the captain was still shivering as though the cold was eating its way through her. He gingerly lay down as close to her as he could and wrapped his good arm around her. "There's no shelter anywhere close enough...at least not until we're all in better shape. We'll have to hobble a shelter together with wood...later. I've got to sleep." And he was gone.

By the time he woke up again, the others had already fashioned a shaky shelter over them. Exhausted from their labor, both were collapsed under its dubious shade. He felt the cost of his morning's exertions taking its toll on him and figured at this rate they'd kill themselves just trying to survive.

He dribbled more water down Carter's chin. She was taking in very little, if any, water and putting out none at all. He was afraid that meant she was in kidney failure along with whatever else was going on with her. He figured he could pry open her eyes like in the movies but didn't know exactly what he was supposed to find if he did so. And he was afraid to find out. Carter had the most alive eyes of anyone he had ever seen. They shone with excitement every time they walked through the Gate on a new mission, every time she had a new doohickey to tear apart or a new idea to explore, every time they served blue Jello in the mess, and most times when he told one of his dumb jokes. He'd be damned before he'd pry open her eyelids and be faced with seeing them lifeless.

With an unaccustomed gentleness, he leaned over her and spoke quietly into her ear, "Wake up, Captain Carter. We need you. We've got a busted DHD for you to play with and we're running out of time here. Come on, Captain!" He hadn't actually expected a response so was shocked to see her eyes flutter open. They weren't lifeless as he had feared, but they were shrunken and dull. He thought he could see waves of pain crash through them relentlessly. She struggled to focus on him, but as he watched, her eyes closed and she slipped away from him. He didn't have the heart to call her back. At least, he knew she was still in there somewhere. He felt oddly encouraged...they had shelter, food, water, and, as long as life shone in Carter's eyes, a good reason to keep on living.

He intended to try to rouse her again early enough to take a look at the DHD while she would still have some hours of daylight left to tinker with it, but he thought it best to let her sleep through the heat of the afternoon. So he bided his time alternating between passing out and doing what he could to meet the needs of his team. He managed to gather a fair pile of sticks for the fire they would need later and an unappealing assortment of grubs and bugs for their evening meal. When Teal'c or Daniel would struggle out of their restless sleep, he'd hold his makeshift bowl to their lips and thrust worms at them. Obviously, they had over exerted themselves building the shelter, and they couldn't seem to gather enough energy to even pass a few words with him before once more fading into sleep. Teal'c's wound was once again oozing blood, and he had taken on a strange hue that O'Neill thought couldn't be good.

By then he wasn't doing so well himself. The pain in his arm had grown until it now throbbed painfully through his whole body magnifying his thumping headache. He huddled against Carter and hoped the fever raging through him would warm her still-too-cool body. Through chattering teeth he told a briefly awake Teal'c, "Carter responded to me earlier. Before it gets too late, try to reach her again. Get some water down her and see if she is able to take a look at the DHD, if you can get her there..."

The steady drip of rain dropping onto his right cheek woke him sometime in the night. He staggered up and out of the shelter to allow it to cool his fevered body and clear his head. He opened his mouth and let it in. It was a mistake. By the time he was done dry heaving, he felt worse than ever.

"Jack, you ok?" Daniel asked lurching unsteadily and painfully out of the shelter towards him.

"Yes, stay in, Daniel. Don't get wet...Carter needs someone dry beside her," O'Neill ordered and Daniel tottered back inside.

"Hey," Jack said, "You're on your feet!"

"Yeah, I think I'm doing better, Teal'c too. Wish I could say the same for you and Sam. You've been more or less out of it for hours, Jack. I think you need to get your shirt off and let the rain wash your wound. I tried to boil our water, but the material wouldn't heat. So I had to leave it, but I can see it's festering bad...we've got to do something about it."

"What? Cut it off? I'm not quite ready for that. Did I ever tell you about the time I hit the ground from an aircraft in Iran? I walked out of there with an infection worse than this...I'll be all right." Nevertheless, he began the difficult job of removing his shirt. "You guys have any luck rousing Carter?"

"Afraid not, Jack." When it became apparent that he'd only end up passing out in the rain, O'Neill gave up on the shirt.

Sometime later he woke up to find himself back in the shelter near a fire that someone had managed to start. He was burning up and struggled to push himself away from the fire. His movement woke someone on the fire's other side; he could see the shine of their eyes beyond it.

Carter. He called her name and her eyes blinked.

"What is it, O'Neill?" Teal'c said from her other side.

"I think Carter's awake."

"Captain Carter?" Teal'c queried quietly.

"Sam?" Daniel joined in. She blinked from one to another of them as though not seeing. Finally, her eyes latched onto O'Neill's and stayed.

"Hey, Carter." He spoke softly as though he might frighten her back into her vulnerable shell.

Her cracked lips moved slightly but no sound came out.

"Drink this, Captain Carter," Teal'c said and gently brought the water to her lips. O'Neill noted that the Jaffa was almost as good at dribbling water down her chin as he was himself.

"It's good to see you, Captain." He watched her eyes shining with life and confusion turn to him again. He wanted to answer her unasked questions and find out how lucid she really was, but he was so tired. He laid his pounding head on the ground and surrendered once again to his exhaustion.


	7. Chapter 7

Morning woke him with the horrible thought that Carter's waking had just been a fever-induced delusion, but Teal'c, who brought him his nourishing if disgusting breakfast of rain-drenched worms, assured him that it had been no dream. While he struggled to choke down sips of water and his daily protein, Teal'c told him that she had faded away right after him, but she had indeed been awake and responsive for that short time. He was glad he hadn't dreamed the whole thing.

He would have been just as glad to win his battle with the worms, but ended up vomiting once again. He felt achy and weak from a long night passed with fever and chills. When he turned to assess his team, he decided they hadn't fared any better.

"Teal'c, you look positively green and are moving like an old man. What happened? I thought Junior was back on the job."

"I am uncertain, O'Neill. I fear my symbiote was too injured to attend to both our wounds. Perhaps if I can hold on long enough to allow it to heal itself completely it will be able to attend to mine...but it is difficult." O'Neill had the impression that this was an understatement.

"What about you, Daniel? Didn't I see you on your feet last night?"

"Yes, Jack. But I seem to be paying for it this morning...I can't even feel my legs now."

"Sweet, real sweet. Sounds like a good day to go home to me...let's roust Carter and blow this joint."

"I have already attempted to wake the captain, but she did not respond, O'Neill."

"Well, we'll just have to try again, won't we?" O'Neill made his way over to Carter. "Hey, I think she has a little color this morning...and she's not so cold either."

"I don't know, Jack...she seems the same to me."

"Oh, why do you always have to be a doomsayer, Daniel! She looks better...great even!" He could tell his forced cheer wasn't going over so hot. Carter, in fact, looked even worse than she had before. Her lips had gone a sickly white as though she was fading away. He bent over her and said, "Hey, Carter? You plan to just sleep away the day? Time's a wasting. If you don't want grubs for lunch, you need to get your lazy self out of bed and get to work on our busted DHD. Come on before I dribble some more water down your chin." To all of their surprise, her eyes opened and she looked directly at Jack.

"Well, look at there. Good morning, Captain..."

"Here, Sam. Try a little of this." Daniel told her and gently eased her head up so that she could drink easier. Jack watched most of it dribble down her chin, but he thought that at least a little bit actually got inside of her for a change. She tried to say something, but it turned into a dry, weak cough that shook her. As he helped Daniel lift her further up, O'Neill felt that Carter who had always been as strong and healthy as a horse felt as fragile as a bird.

"Easy," he told her. "Easy." Daniel worked a few more drops of water into her, and they held her through another coughing fit. When it had quieted, O'Neill tried to fill her in on the escape and their present situation, sparing her too many details. Her eyes wondered as though she was having difficulty focusing on him, but occasionally they'd light on him and he thought she was actually getting his story.

"So, we need you to take a look at the DHD and see if you can fix it." He concluded. Her face wrinkling from the effort, she found his face and gave a slight nod and made a weak move as though to attempt rising. "Just take it easy for a bit, Carter...you've been out for quite awhile, let's not rush things." If she had looked weak and helpless asleep, she looked even worse now. She wasn't going anywhere fast, and O'Neill realized he wasn't either...he'd reached the limit of his strength.

Slumping under Carter's slight weight, he drifted off to Teal'c's voice saying, "O'Neill is right, Captain Carter. Sit awhile, rest again...I will Kelnareem until such time as you can be moved, and then perhaps I will be able to assist you."

Carter was either awake again or still when he came to the next time. Someone had propped her against Teal'c's good side while he Kelnareemed. Daniel was telling her more details of their escape. She looked aware and alert. Some movement on his part must have given him away because suddenly Daniel cried, "Jack, Sam's pretty sure she knows the address where SG-5 was heading...remember if their survey panned out, they were to set up a temporary base camp there for a while?"

"No, Dan'l, don't remember. But's good news," he rasped out, dragging his aching body off the floor and ending up right back where he started when his good arm gave out under him. "Well, now. That was fun," he said before Daniel would be forced to make his way to him, "Let's try that one again." This time he made it all the way to his feet before a wave of nausea and weakness drove him onto his knees. With angry determination he lurched to his feet.

"Jack, I think you should sit down before you fall again," Daniel recommended, apparently unimpressed with his little exhibition. It seemed Daniel had been pretty well unimpressed with just about everything this mission.

"And, I think we should get out there and fix that DHD!" Jack snarled, "Teal'c! Wake up and let's get out of here!" Without waiting to see if his order was obeyed, he stumbled outside and, crashing to his knees, retched again and again...this was really, really getting old.

Kelnareem had not improved Teal'c's color, but he was able to stagger out with Carter in his arms. O'Neill watched him make his way to the DHD and then awkwardly position her half on the pedestal and hold her there by leaning against it. He was relieved to see she had regained enough strength to support her own head and shoulders so that she was able to reach into the DHD to begin her work.

He wondered how long Teal'c could keep her there...he should gather his strength to take his place when it became necessary. "So once more into the fray," he thought. He didn't figure it was worth another painful bout of vomiting to try to slake his thirst, but he located the water and wet his parched mouth. Then he checked on Daniel who was passed out in the shelter. Leaving him there he made his way out to the DHD.

Teal'c looked done in. "Here, Teal'c, let me take her," he said and fumbled about until he had Carter, and Teal'c was free to slump to the ground. "Take a breather, Teal'c, but don't pass out on us...I don't think I am going to be of much use for long." Teal'c nodded his understanding. O'Neill leaned heavily onto the pedestal using his weight to keep Carter from slipping off of it. "So, Carter, what's the prognosis? Can you fix it?"

She answered with a slight shrug and leaned further over in attempt to reach deeper into the DHD. "Hey, Captain, no sudden moves," O'Neill growled desperately trying to keep them both balanced and upright. He figured a gentle breeze would send them both crashing to the ground. He couldn't tell if she was actually making progress or still just assessing the damage. Time dragged on. He couldn't have ordered them out into the heat of the day at a worse time. He figured even Carter must finally be warm. He was so dead on his feet, he didn't even notice when she stopped working. When her head dropped back against his good shoulder, he realized they were done for the time being.

"Teal'c!" he called. Somehow he stayed upright until the Jaffa lowered them down. Carter wasn't passed out as he had supposed, but close to it. "Water first, Carter..then you can rest..unless that is, you feel like a hearty brunch of bugs and grubs?" When Carter smiled weakly at his joke, he thought they just might be on their way home. After she had sipped some of the water Teal'c provided, he asked again, "So can you fix it?"

She swallowed and then finally spoke, "Think so." It was more breath than sound but he smiled at her. Yes, they just might make it home. "You figure SG-5 will still be there?" only earned him a small shrug, so he tried again with, "How long do you expect to be tinkering on that thing?"

She gave him a long look, shook her head, and he saw she was blinking back tears. "How long do you think we have?" she answered after a long pause.

"All the time in the world, Carter," he told her generously. But she wasn't having any of it.

"Not from how you look, Colonel. Or the guys, either."

He decided they'd talked enough for the time being. "Teal'c, whenever the two of you feel up to getting back to it, wake me so I can spell you..." he said and slipped away again.

"Colonel," he heard Carter call after him, but he was beyond answering.


	8. Chapter 8

"Colonel." Déjà vu, he thought as he woke to Carter's voice. He opened his eyes and discovered himself staring up at the gray ceiling of the infirmary in the SGC. As far as hallucinations went, he'd had worse, but he couldn't think of any better.

"Colonel! Janet, he's awake!" he turned towards Carter's voice and saw her propped up in the hospital bed next to him. Monitors cheerfully beeped her vitals to the world, an IV dripped fluids into her arm, and her eyes were shining. She had never looked better.

"Carter, that really you?"

"Yes, Sir. We're home. We ran into SG-5 on their way to the Gate...another few minutes, and we would have missed them. They brought us on home."

"Teal'c, Daniel?"

"I'm right here, Jack." Daniel answered from the bed on his other side. "They think with a little physical therapy I'll beat you back to active duty." Looking at the traction pulling Daniel every which way, Jack doubted that. "Teal'c's fine now...they released him last night."

"How long...how long have we been here?"

"Two days, Colonel," Dr. Frasier answered him from the foot of the bed. "We've had our work cut out patching you back up, but it seems you'll live."

"Sweet." He turned back to Carter. "So what happened, I thought I told you to wake me up?"

"We tried, Sir. You wouldn't respond." She paused and then quietly added, "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"But here I am."

"Yes, Sir, here you are." As she looked at him, Carter smiled.


End file.
